I get this question so often that I thought I’d just write it up in a post, so here goes!

What makes CureTogether unique?

1. Quantitative Crowdsourcing.

CureTogether is about quantifying the collective patient experience. While most other patient support sites have focused on stories or information from experts, we focus on quantitative data across over 600 patient-contributed conditions. Individual data is kept private, but the anonymized aggregate data is shared openly to maximize discoveries that can be made.

2. Open Infographics.

At over 1 million data points, CureTogether has the largest available real-world comparative effectiveness database available to patients online. It’s deep knowledge shared from individual patient experiences, elevating global patient voices in a way that has never been done before. We help patients learn what treatments are available for their condition (based on what others are trying), and how popular and effective each treatment is reported to be. Patients can also track any measures of their health over time, recording weight, stress levels, pain, mood, and share this information with their doctors.

3. Breaking Isolation.

CureTogether also helps people find and connect with others with whom they share multiple health conditions, which would otherwise be extremely difficult since most health sites are organized around individual conditions. Imagine finding someone who shares 7 conditions with you and being able to ask them private questions.

4. Novel Discoveries.

Finally, we have unique data on co-morbidities. We’ve been able to replicate an association between infertility and asthma (and dozens of other conditions) using only patient-contributed data. As more patients add their voices, we will be able to give more personalized information about what might work for whom.

Patients are helping each other, helping research go forward into their conditions, and helping themselves.